AI Coronary Calcium Scoring Gets Paid
The $15 AI scan that predicts heart attacks just got CMS reimbursement — and the prevention opportunity it unlocks is enormous
The AI scan that could prevent your next heart attack just got approved for payment.
As of April 1, 2026, health systems can finally get reimbursed for using AI to detect coronary artery calcium on routine chest CTs. This closes a gap that has existed for years between what the clinical evidence supports and what the billing infrastructure allows.
📊 Coronary artery calcium scoring has been validated as one of the strongest independent predictors of cardiovascular events for over two decades. The American Heart Association has recommended CAC scoring for risk stratification in intermediate-risk patients since 2010. The evidence that a CAC score above 400 substantially increases heart attack and stroke risk — and that this information should change clinical management — is not new or contested.
What was missing was a practical, scalable way to perform CAC scoring at population scale without dedicated screening scans. Dedicated CAC scoring requires a specific low-dose CT protocol, a patien…
